Further to our message on Monday, we are sending this update to clarify the support available to businesses.
Furlough Scheme
The extension of this is at the full 80% as it was in August, but employers will need to fund the employers NI and pension contributions. You can furlough employees who were on payroll and were submitted through an RTI schedule by 30th October so any new hires that are now not able to work their full hours can be added to the scheme.
Flexi-furlough is also available for November, therefore if you need to reduce employees’ hours but still have them working, you can claim furlough for the hours not worked.
The employer will pay 100% of the employee’s wage for any hours they work, with 80% of the hours not worked covered by the government up to a monthly maximum of £2,500 per employee. Employers can pay more to their employees if they wish, at their own expense.
Please do let us know if you are furloughing your employees or yourselves as soon as you can, we will be looking to make the claims on Thursday 19th November to ensure the cash is received before payday.
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
The grants for the self-employed will be increased to 55% for the November to January period, these are expected to be available from 30th November. Clients will need to login to their HMRC accounts directly to see if they are eligible and to make the claim, unfortunately as with the last 2 grants HMRC have locked agents out.
There is a further grant in the new year to cover February – April, this is currently still at 40% but the government have said they will review this again in January and amend, as necessary.
Cash Grants
The level of grants available for businesses that have been required to close are as follows –
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Rateable value of less than £51,000 you will receive a cash grant of £1,000 for each 3-week period your business is closed
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Rateable value of £51,000 or above you will receive a cash grant of £1,500 for each 3-week period your business is closed
If you were in local tiered restrictions prior to 5th November, then you should be able to apply for the grants for tier 2 & tier 3 up to closure and then the grants above from closure until you reopen.
These are being administered from your local authority so as we previously advised, do check with them on when they will be opening applications. Currently I know Greenwich council are awaiting further details from government before they can open applications, so please do sign up to business alerts so you get notification of when this is.
Local authorities will also be given a further top up of 5% to cover businesses that are affected by the restrictions but that do not have business rates, it is therefore worth checking with your local authority on what the eligibility criteria will be for these.
Bounce Back Loans
Businesses will be allowed to top loans up if they did not take the maximum they were allowed initially. The maximum would be the higher of £50,000 or 25% of your annual turnover for the year to 31st December 2019.
Applications will need to be placed with the bank you originally received your BBL from and the government are expecting the applications to be simple and the cash be available quickly.
As has been the case since the pandemic began, things are changing daily, and we will endeavour to update you as soon as possible when these changes occur. But please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require any clarification or have any further questions.
Stay safe.
Very Best
The DA Team x